


Loved and Favored

by words_reign_here



Series: The Beginning After The End [7]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M, mostly threats, no fluff here, some violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-15
Updated: 2013-03-15
Packaged: 2017-12-05 08:44:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/721126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/words_reign_here/pseuds/words_reign_here
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel and Gabriel aren't above getting their hands dirty to find what matters most to them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Loved and Favored

The next morning, they were running on no sleep and only the espresso that Gabriel kept handy. Gabriel paced and kept an eye on Dean. A change in him meant a change in Sophia and possibly in Michael.

"Got it! Got it!" Garth exclaimed from his position on the floor. Gabriel was there in a second, seizing upon the book in Garth's hands. It was in Latin but Gabriel skimmed it like it was the latest teenage vampire book.

"What is it, Gabriel?" Cas asked wearily. His head was leaning against Dean's hip, his fingers laced in Dean's. "A spell. Another one. This one requires the soul of the Righteous, the body and mind of the unique? One of a kind? And the wings of Heaven itself. Oh fuck." He sighed wearily. “This is some heavy duty stuff, Cas. Whoever has them wants to bring hell on earth. Literally, transpose all the humans up here for all the demons down there.”

"How do we find them? I don't care about the spell. If we can find them, then I can peel the skin from their bodies and tear the eyeballs from their heads and shove them down their gullet with my bare hands. That's all I need, Gabriel. Just a location." Cas said flatly.

Gabriel sighed. It was the last thing he could think of. It wasn't a spell really since those had all ended horrifically. He was sick of putting Garth and Sam back together in the proper order.

"We can try weaving." Gabriel offered. Cas looked at him with those hard dark eyes before turning back to Dean without another word. "I don't have Grace or a soul. It wouldn't work."

"Weaving?" Sam asked, looking up from his part at the desk.

"When angels join their Grace together. Or when an angel and human join their Grace and soul together." Garth provided.

"Sex?" Sam asked.

Garth nodded.

"How the hell is that going to find them, Gabriel?" Sam asked, sounding outraged and shocked.

"It isn't sex. Exactly. But if you think it through properly, if I weave my Grace through Castiel and we use Castiel's bond with Dean, we can trace it to where Sophia is. Wherever Sophia is, Dean's soul is being drained away."

Silence reigned.

"It could work." Garth said slowly.

"It's worth a shot, Cas." Sam said slowly. And really, what else did he have to lose?

"Fine. Let's do this quickly. Sam, come here. Gabriel, come stand over here. Sam, prop him up like... this. Keep him still. Gabriel, please." Gabriel came close and pulled his brother close to him in a hug. And that's what it looked like to any outsider. Gabriel and Cas hugging while Cas kept his hand over the scar on Dean's shoulder.

To Cas, it felt like he was being dropped into a well. It was dark and silent and cold. It was the first time Dean had ever felt cold. Even in the depths of hell where it was always cold, Dean had burned hot. Now, as his soul was being pulled from him, Cas could barely find any warmth in him.

He found himself peering out of Sophia's eyes. She stood in the middle of a crudely drawn Devil's Trap. In her small hand she held a knife that Michael had given her when she learned how to handle a blade appropriately. Gabriel had confided that it was a shard of Michael's flaming sword, able to bring down anything that came near her. Her uniform was torn and her hand hurt where she had cut it. She had used her own blood to draw the Devil's Trap around her and... Michael. Michael was slumped behind her, bleeding Grace slowly.

Cas looked around for windows and when he saw one, he used the Grace that Gabriel had ready for him to push out of his daughter's mind and to the street outside. He knew this place. He had driven by this area many times.

He took one more glance back at Michael and then at the back of the man who was working a spell at a blood stained table. There were at least fifteen demons spread out through the warehouse. Four of them lay dead at Sophia’s feet. He could feel Dean’s soul burning bright, hot and angry inside of her. This is why Dean was her daddy, because there were going to be times that she needed to be warrior just like him. She had remembered the lessons that Sam had taught her as well. To keep the demons out, she put herself in a Devil’s Trap with a weapon. And she had remembered how Michael had taught her to fight. Everything that they had taught her, she was able to use now.

“They aren’t going to be able to find you, Sophia. Not before I kill your daddy.” The man said. “And your uncle there behind you. Although,” He said turning and facing her with a rusty machete in his hands, “I will grant you that the Celtic defense spell joined with the Devil’s Trap was quite ingenious. Few people would have ever thought of it, let alone tried it.”

“It’s because I’m a prodigy, dick wad.” Sophia spat. Cas was surprised and could feel the anger welling up in her small body. “My Papa will come for me. I just have to be patient, just like him.” She smirked. He could practically feel Dean’s attitude like a rising tide behind her eyes. “My Papa killed demons like you all the time.”

“Yes, darling he did. And I’m going to kill him, your uncle there, your other uncle who used to drink the blood from the veins of demons, that silly archangel that thinks himself a threat and after all that, you sweet, sweet little girl I will cut you into little pieces and drain you dry. Now, how does that sound?”

Cas could feel a glimmer of the avenging angel that he once was. He felt it there, deep in his core and he wondered if there was any truth to the claim that Dean had made long ago, that he did retain a little bit of angel mojo. He pulled Gabriel’s Grace towards him more tightly, wrapped it around his own and pushed into his daughter’s focus. He felt her tremble and then said softly, “Papa?” And he thought _at her_ and said _Baby, let me take the reins for a second._ She fought for a second, natural instinct but he felt her let him through. And as he did, he felt again for that core of power. For that core that was still avenging angel, that still demanded respect, and wrapped it up in Gabriel’s archangel power.

The man across from the Devil’s Trap must have noticed a shift; a change in power. “Who is there?” He asked, cocking his head in earnest. “Is that dear old Papa Cas?”

“Let her go, let Dean’s soul go and let the angel go and I will kill you quickly.” Castiel demanded.

“And if I don’t?” The man asked, delighting in the turn of events. He grinned widely.

“I will take you apart piece by piece. And when I am done, I will have my brothers reassemble your body and I will do it again. And again. Until this vessel wearies. But please do not forget, my brothers have very long life spans.”

“It doesn’t look like the one behind you has much life left.” The man said, pointing with a serrated dagger.

“Demons cannot kill my brother. He was loved and favored more than any other in creation.”

“Ah, but can the son of Lucifer kill your brother?”

Time stood still.

Castiel could feel both his and Gabriel’s grace tighten. Even Michael looked up blearily at those words.

“My offer still stands. Let them go and I will kill you quickly. If you do not, it will be a long time until you see your father.”

 

To Be Continued...


End file.
